Power-take off clutch

ABSTRACT

A power-take-off clutch having a shaft and a friction disc rotatable in unison and having a pulley piloted on the shaft to be axially moved into friction and therefore driving contact with the disc for the power-take-off. A series of ball bearings are on the shaft, including one for mounting the pulley, and other ball bearings are available for receiving an actuator which axially displaces the pulley for the drive engagement mentioned. The ball bearings have their inner races with hexagonally shaped bores which slide on the hexagonally shaped shaft, and thus the shaft and the inner races do not rotate relative to each other and they therefore do not wear out.

United States Patent [191 [111 3,724,627 Rhodes [45] Apr. 3, 1973 [54]POWER-TAKE OFF CLUTCH [75] Inventor: Keith H. Rhodes, Winneconne, Wis.Exammer BenJamm wyche Attorney-Arthur J. Hansmann ['73] Assignee: J. 1.Case Company, Racine, Wis. 22 Filed: Mar. 1, 1912 [57.] ABSTRACT 21 l. N2 629 A power-take-off clutch having a shaft and a friction 1 App 0 discrotatable in unison and having a pulley piloted on the shaft to beaxially moved into friction and there- US. Cl. B, fore ontact the discfor the powe utake- Illtoff. A series of bearings are on the shaft Fieldsearch--l9zll 10 70-2, one for mounting the pulley, and other ballbearings 192/35 64/8, 23 are available for receiving an actuator whichaxially displaces the pulley for the drive engagement menl ReferellccsCited tioned. The ball bearings have their inner races with hexagonallyshaped bores which slide on the hexv UNITED STATES PATENTS agonallyshaped shaft, and thus the shaft and the inner 1,931,182 10/1933 Dombret..l92/70.19 races do not rotate relative to eachother and they 3,062,34611/1962 Sharpe ..192/98 X therefore do riot wear out. 3,434,369 3/1969Runkle 64/23-X 3,474,887 10/1969 Hansen ..192/ 1 10 R X 3 Claims, 2Drawing Figures J 4/ 'lnmll I n I I \l /Z JM85 .33 I 934 29 I I n WI f'"i POWER-TAKE OFF CLUTCH This invention relates to a power-take-offclutch of the type which has a rotatable shaft and a friction disc whichis engaged with a power-take-off pulley.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Power-take-off clutches are commonly knownin the art, and they exist in many different forms. One such example isshown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,474,887 where a pulley is axially displacedinto driving relation with a friction disc, and a lever type of actuatoris employed for axially displacing the pulley into the drivingengagement mentioned. In this type of clutch, the ball bearings utilizedin contact with the actuator, for the purpose of permitting the axialdisplacement mentioned, and also the ball bearings for supporting thepulley itself, all tend to rotate relative to shaft at the inner racesor inner bores of the bearing assemblies. Such rotation is undesirablein that it causes wear and vibration, and it requires that thesupporting shaft and the bearing inner races and bores be hardened andotherwise strengthened in special manners. That is, since the bearingassemblies must slide freely axially of theshaft in the clutchdescribed, the bearing inner bores and the shaft are inherently loosefitting and therefore the undesirable rotation occurs. Still further,since the loose fitting is required for axial movement of thebearing'assemblies, as mentioned, this also results in a looseoru'nstable mounting of the pulley itself relative to the shaft. i

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide apower-take-off clutch which utilizes a plurality of bearing assemblieswhich can be moved axially of the shaft but which are otherwise stablewith the shaft and which do not have the bearing inner races or innerbores rotate relativeto the shaft. Accordingly, in accomplishing thisobject, the clutch of this invention avoids the wear caused by therelative rotation between the shaft and the contacting bearing boresurfaces.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a clutch which canbe of the type having an actuator engaging bearing assemblies on theshaft and with the actuator and bearings permitting axial movement ofthe hearings on the shaft while the bearings, including a bearing forthe pulley piloted on the shaft, all remain snug and stable relative tothe shaft.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a power-takeoffclutch assembly, including a shaft and a hub and bearing assemblies anda pulley, with the shaft and hub being a welded assembly which can beinexpensively and easily manufactured and precision'rnade.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading thefollowing description in light of the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectionalview through a power-take-off clutch of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A clutch shaft 10 isrotatably driven through a hub 11 being welded to the shaft at 12 andbeing welded to a sleeve 13 at the weldment 14. A ring 16 is attached tothe weldment 14 and thus to the sleeve 13, and bolts 17 extendthroughthe ring 16 and into a fly wheel 18 of an engine which is not shown. Anengine shaft 19 is also fragmentarily shown and is shown to be bolted tothe flywheel 18. Thus the assembly of the engine shaft 19 and the hub 11 and clutch shaft 10 all rotate in unison.

A friction disc 21 is on a plate 22 which is bolted to the hub 11 sothat the disc 21 rotates with the assembly 27, trained on the pulley 23,can be driven by the rotation of the shaft 10.

Two more ball bearing assemblies 28 and 29 are also piloted on the shaft10 and they in turn support rings 31 and 32, respectively. An actuator33 engages the slots 34 in the rings 31 and 32, and the actuator is inthe form of an arm or lever which can be placed in a position parallelto the axis of shaft 10 to thus force .the bearing assemblies 28 and 29away from each other to thereby induce the frictional contact of thepulley 23 with the disc 21, as mentioned. This type of arrangement andlever actuator is that which is shown in U. 8. Pat. No. 3,474,887. Thusa ring 36 extends between the bearing assemblies 24 and 31 so that thebearing 24 and V its supported pulley 23 are urged toward the disc21.for

the driving engagement mentioned. Also, the snap ring 37 is on the shaft10 to limit the movement of the bearing assembly 29 in the direction ofthe bearing assembly 28. Such movement ofthe bearing assembly 29 isinduced by a Belleville spring 38 on the shaft 10 and in abutment with asleeve 39 which in turn abuts a washer 41 held on the shaft 10 by ascrew 42 extending into the end of the shaft 10. Finally, spring packs43 extend between the disc 22 and the bearing assembly 24 to urge thebearing assembly 24 and therefore the pulley 23 away from the disc 21,atleast when the clutch actuator 33 is released. The bearing assembliesand the ring 36 all slide axially on the shaft 10 for the clutching andde-clutching actions. i

The shaft 10 is shown to be flat-sided in its cross-sec.- tional form,and in fact it is a hexagonallyshaped shaft, as seen in FIG. 2.Likewise, the inner bores 44 of all three bearing assemblies 24, 28,and.29 are flat sided and hexagonally shaped to mate with the shaft 10Thus the bearings have their inner races 46 non-rotatably related to thechart 10, while the bearing'outer races 47 will of course rotaterelative to the shaft 10 by meansof the bearing balls 48 beinginterposed between the races. All of the bearing inner races 46 are alsocapable of sliding axially on the shaft 10 for the bearing displacementdescribed in order to clutch and de-clutch, as described. However, thebearing inner races 24, 28, and 29 cannot rotate relative to the shaft10, that is they do not rotate on the shaft 10, so there is no wear tothe shaft 10 nor to the bearing assemblies, due to any rotationtherebetween. Further, the bearings are more stable on the shaft,compared to the bearings where the shaft is of a circular cross-sectionand the bearing inner bores are also circular, since that prior artarrangement does not permit the stability that the flat-sided telescopicarrangement permits.

What is claimed is:

1. In a power-take-off clutch, the combination of a rotatably mountedshaft, a plurality of anti-friction bearing assemblies mounted on saidshaft and being ax ially movable thereon and each having an inner raceand an outer race, a clutch friction disc mounted on said shaft andbeing rotatable therewith, a power-takeoff pulley mounted on one of saidbearing assemblies for rotation relative to said shaft and beingdisposed-adjacent said disc to be selectively driven by said disc uponaxial movement into contact with said disc, an actuator in engagementwith said outer race of the other of said bearing assemblies for forcingthereon and causing said other bearing assembly to axially displace saidone bearing assembly into a position of driving relation between saiddisc and said pulley, the improvement comprising said shaft and saidbearing assemblies all having flat-sided telescoping surfaces to benonrotatably mated together for precluding rotation between said innerraces and said shaft while providing for the axial sliding of saidbearing assemblies on said shaft.

2. The power-take-off clutch as claimed in claim 1, wherein said shaftand said inner races are all hexagonal in cross-sectional shape forpresenting said flatsided surfaces.

3. The power-take-off clutch as claimed in claim 2, including a springon said shaft for urging said bearing assemblies toward said disc, and adrive member welded to said shaft adjacent said disc for rotating theassembly of said shaft and said disc.

* I i i

1. In a power-take-off clutch, the combination of a rotatably mountedshaft, a plurality of anti-friction bearing assemblies mounted on saidshaft and being axially movable thereon and each having an inner raceand an outer race, a clutch friction disc mounted on said shaft andbeing rotatable therewith, a powertake-off pulley mounted on one of saidbearing assemblies for rotation relative to said shaft and beingdisposed adjacent said disc to be selectively driven by said disc uponaxial movement into contact with said disc, an actuator in engagementwith said outer race of the other of said bearing assemblies for forcingthereon and causing said other bearing assembly to axially displace saidone bearing assembly into a position of driving relation between saiddisc and said pulley, the improvement comprising said shaft and saidbearing assemblies all having flat-sided telescoping surfaces to benon-rotatably mated together for precluding rotation between said innerraces and said shaft while providing for the axial sliding of saidbearing assemblies on said shaft.
 2. The power-take-off clutch asclaimed in claim 1, wherein said shaft and said inner races are allhexagonal in cross-sectional shape for presenting said flat-sidedsurfaces.
 3. The power-take-off clutch as claimed in claim 2, includinga spring on said shaft for urging said bearing assemblies toward saiddisc, and a drive member welded to said shaft adjacent said disc forrotating the assembly of said shaft and said disc.